Madabusi Santanam Raghunathan obtained BA (Hons) (Mathematics) (1960) from University of Madras. Thereafter, he joined Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai as Research Assistant and obtained PhD (Mathematics) (1966) from University of Bombay. He then joined TIFR as Associate Professor (1966) and continued to work there till his retirement. He is currently Professor of Eminence (2006- ) as DAE-Homi Bhabha Chair Professor at TIFR.

Academic and Research Achievements: Raghunathan has made pioneering contributions in the area of algebraic groups and their discrete subgroups and is regarded as one of the leading researchers who have influenced development in the field. His work on the cohomology of arithmetic groups, congruence subgroup problem and contributions to the study of principal bundles in affine algebraic geometry are specially noteworthy. He has mentored about 10 students for their PhD.

Other Contributions: Raghunathan has been involved in the promotion of higher mathemtics in the country. As Chairman of the National Board for Higher mathematics (1987-2006), he initiated many programmes and projects for the development of mathematics. He was Member of the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical Union (1998-2006). As Chairman of the Governing Council of Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, he played a key role in its growth.

Awards and Honours: Professor Raghunathan received the SS Bhatnagar Award for Mathematics (1977). He was awarded the Ramanujan Medal (1991) and the Arya Bhata Medal (2006) of INSA and held its SN Bose Professorship (1994-96). He was elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (1974), National Academy of sciences (India), Allahabad (1989), the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (1994) and the Royal Society (2000).